Defiled Hero c2

Defiled Hero

Adventurer Registration: Thieves and the

Guild Receptionist

「What are your plans for today?」

(Receptionist)

There

was nobody else inside the guild building except for us two.

I

prepared my words and went to the counter right away.

「I would like to register as an adventurer

again, and purchase some things.」 (Izayoi)

「Your titles and previous accomplishments

will be reset, is that fine?」 (Receptionist)

Personal

records are erased after five years if not updated, so that's been done, right?

If I said it wasn't fine, would something different happen?

I

won't say that. I can't say that.

「Yes, please.」

(Izayoi)

「Then, please fill out this form.」

(Receptionist)

I

received a brown piece of paper from the receptionist. The form had spaces for

name, age, and race.

That's

all that was necessary to register with the guild.

Filling

in the blanks, I handed it back to the woman.

Since

it's annoying to think of another name, I'll just use Izayoi. I've never used

the name Izayoi in this world. Most of the time, I was just referred to as

"hero." That's how I was referred to before.

The

receptionist looked over the paper, then placed it on a pedestal.

「Now then, please place your hand on this

pedestal.」 (Receptionist)

I

placed my hand on the pedestal with the paper, and with a *pish* sound, the

paper disappeared.

「Adventurer registration is complete. You

will start as an F-rank adventurer. Will you be fine without an explanation?」

(Receptionist)

「Yes. Now, this...」

(Izayoi)

I

sold the seeds of life and got 4 gold coins, equivalent to 40,000 yen. If only

this was enough. This is insufficient for purchasing equipment, but is enough

for Astrea.

I

don't plan on staying in town for long. I'll leave tomorrow.

All

that's left is to collect information.

「There will be an examination for titles

tomorrow, what do you think?」 (Receptionist)

Because

I reset, there's a need to acquire a new title.

「...Sign me up for the sword examination

please.」 (Izayoi)

Guild

rank is determined by quest completions and achievements. Titles exemplify

one's strength.

From

lowest to highest, the titles are 【Beginner】,

【Intermediate】,

【Advanced】,

【Tier 2】,

【Tier 1】,

【King】, 【Emperor】,

and【Saint】.

I

was ranked S by the guild when I was a hero. My title was 【Emperor】.

I should have acquired several others, too.

「Just to verify, have you acquired a title

for sword mastery before?」 (Receptionist)

As

if I could honestly say Emperor. Even if you counted the various martial art

users, few reached Emperor status. Also, there were only two swordmasters back

then, including me. If I say that, I'll just be thought of as a braggart.

「...I was 【Tier

1】.」 (Izayoi)

【Tier 1】

adventurers were competent. Few were recognized as 【King】

and higher by the country. There were a lot of 【Tier

1】 adventurers because of the wall between

it and 【King】.

「【Tier 1】

swordmaster, understood. At 10 tomorrow morning, please come to the guild for

the 【Advanced】

examination.」 (Receptionist)

Parting

from the receptionist, I went towards the bar counter. I haven't had a

satisfying meal in a few days. Let's go eat.

Given

the food shortage, prices were twice what they were before, but it can't be

helped.

While

diligently studying the menu in hand, a man went out of his way to sit down

next to me.

「Hey, kid. Get a bowl for me.」

(???)

He

was about 40 years old. Silver light reflected off of his artificial right arm.

In my life in my previous world, I've seen dozens of guys like this.

「Hey. I'm not the same as you.」

(Izayoi)

I

muttered quietly, not stopping the hand bringing food to my mouth.

「Oh, is that so.」

(40 year old guy)

Not

pursuing the bland conversation, I ordered alcohol and began to drink. There

doesn't seem to be any resentment. This is a good chance. I'll gather some

information then.

「I've changed my mind. Here's a drink, old

man. In exchange, some small talk, if you would.」

(Izayoi)

「Small talk? What would you happen to be

interested in, boy?」 (40 year old guy)

「...I've been in the mountains for a

while. Not sure what's going on in the world right now. Tell me what's happened

in the last 5 years. Depending on the information, I'll get you another drink.」

(Izayoi)

「Hmm, the past five years, right, the hero

sealed the core of the demon lord, something like that?」

(40 year old guy)

「Yeah, like that. What happened to the

hero afterwards?」 (Izayoi)

「If it's the hero, he restrained the demon

lord with his holy sword, but in the end his power overflowed and ran wild.

Because of that, his master Zenesys had no choice but to kill the hero to stop

his uncontrollable rampage. A sad sight to see. It was his master and all.」

(40 year old guy)

The

holy sword completely sealed the demon's core. However, master——swordmaster Zenesys

suddenly brandished his sword at me.

I

was saved by Astrea, and vanished from this world. Zenesys falsified the truth,

and now we're here.

「What is Zenesys up to now?」 (Izayoi)

「Swordmaster Zenesys passed the

examination, and is the king now.」 (40 year old man)

「...he became king?」

(Izayoi)

「A splendid king too. He even helped out a

frontier town like this. The people support him, and he's become an impeccable

king.」 (40 year old man)

Zenesys

was trusted by the former king. I should have become king when he betrayed me.

Becoming the king wasn't the reason for betrayal though.

Then,

what was the reason...

「What's wrong, kiddo? You've got an odd

expression on your face. You aren't thinking about killing the king or

something like that are you? I won't help you with that kind of thing, okay?」(40

year old man)

「It's nothing that dangerous. And besides,

I...」 (Izayoi)

The

hero ‘me’ died. "Justice," "for the people," such things

don't matter anymore.

The

foolish ‘me’ is gone.

「That's got nothing to do with me.」

(Izayoi)

Standing

up, I pulled a gold coin out of my pocket and placed it on the counter.

「For the two of us.」

(Izayoi)

Saying

that, I left the guild.

「Thanks kid. I'm in your debt.」

(40 year old man)

I

know what's going on. But what should I do? I can't do anything bad until I

revive Astrea.

Returning

to the inn, I went to bed in preparation for tomorrow. Falling asleep

immediately, I awoke to the complete darkness outside my window.

(Hey,

Astrea.) (Izayoi)

No

response. Guess it'll take a bit longer.

Closing

my eyes and waiting silently on my bed, it began to get noisy outside.

I

could begin to hear the sounds of swords clashing and people yelling.

There's

conflict in this town, huh. Those troublesome people. There were 15 thieves

that could be heard, and 8 town guards opposing them.

They're

at a disadvantage. Their boss is quite skilled, too. The guards are outnumbered

by the subordinates... but they're also twice as strong as them.

The

thieves surrounded the guards in a move to cut them down. Unable to rest well

with the noise outside, I got off the bed and headed outside the inn.

「There are thieves and adventurers

outside. It's better not to go out there.」 (Inn's Master)

「It's alright. I don't plan to fight.」

(Izayoi)

「Then all the more reason not to go...」

(Inn's Master)

Disregarding

the inn's master, I went directly towards the guild. In front of the guild was

the receptionist, dressed in her pajamas.

「What're you doing in the middle of the

night? In your pajamas no less?」 (Izayoi)

「I'm not doing anything! There's an

emergency! I couldn't possibly sleep like this!」

(Receptionist)

「I see... Well, I'm going to go sleep in

the guild now.」 (Izayoi)

「Sleep!? You're going to sleep? No, no

way...」 (Receptionist)

「It can't be helped. It's noisy at the

inn, I can't sleep there.」 (Izayoi)

「Something's wrong! "I see..."

As if! You don't understand! 」 (Receptionist)

「Are, are you alright? Calm down.」

(Izayoi)

「Calm down? Calm down, you say? What! You

think I'm weird? Do you really? Huh?」 (Receptionist)

It's

useless, this woman. She's completely panicked. Until she's calmed down,

nothing will get through to her.

「You're not the one at fault.」

(Izayoi)

「Right? Is that right? Yes. So what are

you going to do about it?」 (Receptionist)

「Sleep in the guild.」

(Izayoi)

「Ok, that. It's that.」

(Receptionist)

I

looked around my surroundings, but nothing's happening. Nothing.

「I'm not saying it's some direction. I'm

saying it's you!」 (Receptionist)

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